


Etched

by whoreracha



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Internalized Homophobia, JUST GUYS BEIN DUDES, M/M, Plot, Soulmate AU, Swearing, idk we're just havin fun here, jisung is a confused gay, just dudes bein gay, minho is confident but also confused gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-04-05 05:58:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19042528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoreracha/pseuds/whoreracha
Summary: There is a beautiful statue of a person in the middle of a park, located on the edge of Seoul, and the rumor surrounding the statue is that when they touch hands with their soulmate, they will become human. Naturally, it becomes a perfect photo and video opportunity to pose while holding its hand.One cute photo attempt results in an empty statue podium and a very confused person barely being caught in Jisung's arms.





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> HI HELLO READERS. This is the first fic I've posted here on ao3 and I'm really excited to start writing on a new platform. It's not the first fic I've written and it won't be the last, so if you enjoy this first chapter, please let me know and maybe stay tuned for stuff I create in the future! I hope you like this because I'm really excited to start writing it.

“Could you hurry up, Ji?”

Jisung ripped his gaze from the ripples the river was creating to the origin of the voice. Of course it came from Seungmin, one of the most impatient kids he’s ever met.

“Could you hurry up, Ji?” Jisung imitated the younger with a nasally pitched voice. The other two boys that accompanied them erupted into laughter and started doing the same, causing Seungmin to sigh in exasperation. Jisung picked up the flat rock he had been eyeing and tossed it in the air a couple times, before rearing his arm back and throwing it to the water. It skipped once, twice, three times, then sank to the river bottom. Jisung nodded to himself, content with the amount of hops he had gotten, then turned back to the rambunctious group a few steps ahead of him.

Jisung, Seungmin, Hyunjin, and Felix very rarely actually had plans after their work day had ended. Every other day or so, when all of their shifts lined up (much to their excitement and the dismay of the owner, Chan), they would amble out of the local diner and begin roaming around the area. The diner’s location wasn’t deep within the city of Seoul, so there weren’t many places they could exactly roam to. So, naturally, the four found their favorite spot.

“We’re almost there, can you pick up the pace, princess?” Felix called back to Hyunjin, as he was the one now falling behind.

“Shut up, Lix,” Hyunjin retorted. “You were on register, you didn’t have to be on your feet for eight hours straight.”

“If your feet haven’t become numb yet, you’re not working hard enough,” Seungmin said, to which Hyunjin smacked the back of his head.

“I need new shoes soon,” Jisung said with a sigh. “Mine are forming mouths.” He paused for a moment and lifted one of his feet, and instantly the rubber flopped out, weighed down by gravity and grease. Jisung wiggled his big toe and grinned wide when he heard the chorus of disgusted groans, the exact reaction he was wanting.

A few minutes had passed, the air filled with continued banter, and the four had finally come to the secluded park they had claimed as their own. At least, it was theirs after 8pm.

During the day, however, it was a rather popular park, especially for tourists. It was a beautiful little spot; deep green and plush grass, a few clumps of violets growing near the bases of the pines that encircled the area, acting almost like a natural fence.

In the very center was what really attracted people: the statue.

“Do you think it’ll still be that little girl?” Hyunjin asked as the pines came into view.

“What do you mean?” Felix asked, pausing the game of pebble soccer he was playing with Jisung.

“The statue,” Hyunjin stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Do you think it’ll still be the little girl with the pigtails and the-”

“Hey, idiot, Felix moved when the little girl first showed up, he doesn’t know about the statue’s myth,” Seungmin said, kicking a rock hard enough to bounce off of Hyunjin’s ankle. The older whirled around with a fist raised, but there wasn’t much actual malice in the threat.

“There’s a myth about the statue!?” Felix exclaimed. His mouth remained gaping open as his sentence finished, which made the others giggle. “I’ve been here for months, going to this park with you idiots almost every day, and you’ve never told me about it?”

“Well, to be fair, it’s written on the plaque in front of the thing,” Jisung said with a smirk. “It’s not our fault you don’t know how to read.”

“Oh yeah? And how many languages can you speak, Ji? Besides bullshit,” Felix retorted. This made everyone erupt with laughter, especially as Jisung wrapped his arm around Felix’s neck, demanding him to ‘respect his elders’.

“You are literally only a day older than me, Jisung,” Felix argued as he tried to swing his arms up to somehow smack himself free from Jisung’s clutches.

“And one day, you will have the wisdom I possess, young one,” Jisung responded, his voice coming out aged and gravelly, resembling that of a sensei they loved to make fun of from their favorite drama.

“Just tell me about the statue. It’s not gonna come to life and chase us, right?” Felix asked, finally wrestling from Jisung’s grasp.

“Not unless you’re it’s soulmate,” Seungmin said.

“It’s what now!?” Felix exclaimed, but the other three just nodded, so Seungmin continued.

“The legend goes that a long time ago, whatever deity created the universe originally made humans in pairs. Like, literal pairs attached at the hip, like Siamese twins. The same deity that created humans realized that they were too powerful like this, so he separated them all into how we know ourselves now: two arms, two legs, one head, et cetera.”

“Well-”

“Shut up, perv.” Jisung’s interruption earned a smack from Hyunjin.

“Anyways, ever since that split, humans have just been searching for their other halves, their soulmates. Apparently, we’re not complete without that person.”

“But what does that have to do with the statue?” Felix asked.

“Well, apparently, a long time ago, before Seoul became the bustling city of life we know it is now, there was a village that did certain...rituals? I guess? In order to find their soulmates. Of course now, I guess it’s more difficult to find your other half, after centuries of moving and migrating and immigrating, but apparently it wasn’t as difficult to do so back then. But either way, there would still be people that couldn’t find them because the soulmate just hasn’t been born yet. So the ritual they did would end up turning a person to stone, into a statue, and they would just wait until their soulmate found them.”

“And is this statue one of them?”

“That’s what the plaque says. Of course, it’s just a myth. There’s no way a person can be turned to stone, you know that, right?” Felix just blushed and looked at his coffee-stained work shoes. “But every once in a while, the statue will be replaced by a completely different statue. The little girl with the pigtails is the one up now, but before that was an old man, the one before that was a middle-aged woman, and it just keeps going back. Nobody ever knows where those statues go, but nobody ever looks for them because a brand new one has taken its place.”

“So…”

“So people assume that the statue’s soulmate came, touched their stony hand, then it came to life and they lived their lives together, happily ever after,” Hyunjin finished. The four had come to the ring of pines that encircled the park, and subconsciously the boys had stopped.

“That’s why it’s such a huge tourist spot,” Jisung continued. “People come and take pictures with the statue and pose with it, hold it’s hand, sometimes even kiss it on the cheek, which is just weird ‘cause what if a bird pooped on it or something-”

“I know for a fact you kissed the old man statue, don’t even try to act disgusted by bird poop now,” Seungmin interrupted.

“I was only twelve!”

“Looking for a sugar daddy at such a young age really is just sad.”

“Shut up, Lix, or I’ll shove your face in the biggest puddle of bird shit, I swear-”

“Wait, guys, look!”

Hyunjin pointed into the clearing, towards the direction of the subject of their discussion. The air instantly stilled, not a word or even a flick on the forehead was heard.

The four edged forward, finally entering the park. Everything was the same; the grass was green, violets grew sporadically, and the statue was stood in the very middle.

It wasn’t the little girl anymore.

As soon as that realization hit the boys, they broke into a sprint over to it, curiosity and intrigue spiking their adrenaline dramatically.

They came to a grinding halt as they came to the base of the statue. Jisung crouched down to read the plaque as the other three began circling it, taking in the addition to their park.

“It’s called ‘The Lonely Dancer’,” Jisung said to his friends. “The myth is the same, the title is just new.”

Jisung looked up at the statue from his position on the grass.

It definitely looked like a dancer, he thought to himself. This one was carved from gray marble, shiny and smooth, the limbs flowing to the body almost as if it were water frozen in time. The figure had one arm extended over its head, fingers together, and the other arm was down below it’s waist, the fingers splayed out, as if waiting for it’s dancing partner to take it’s hand. One leg was poised out, toes touching the base, while the other was grounded, pointing almost straight to where Jisung was sat. The chest was broad and flat, leading Jisung to believe that it was meant to be masculine, and then his eyes went up to the face.

His jaw almost fell open.

The statue only had little features; it was no Michelangelo. Clothes hadn’t been carved into the stone, there were no gritty, humanistic details. But the statue’s face was something Jisung had never seen in a piece of art before. The features were sharp and angular, so much so that Jisung felt that if he ran his finger along any part of it, he might cut himself. The nose was almost perfectly straight, high cheekbones guarded wide, open eyes, and Jisung could only describe the jawline as stunning. The only soft thing about the statue’s face was it’s lips. The top lip was more plump than the bottom, completely untainted by a flaw or even bird poop.

Jisung wasn’t a big art buff, but he knew beautiful art when he saw it.

“He’s hot,” Hyunjin said, startling Jisung out of his trance.

“Oh, shut up, there’s barely any details, how can you even tell?” Seungmin teased.

“‘Cause he’s a dancer. Dancers are hot,” Hyunjin said with a smile. He evaded Seungmin’s attack, then slyly high fived Felix.

“So can we take pictures with this dude or what?” Felix asked. “I need to show my mom that I’m making friends.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she’ll be real pleased when she sees you’ve made friends with a slab of concrete,” Seungmin said, but he took out his phone anyways as Felix shooed Hyunjin and Jisung out of frame.

Felix takes the outstretched hand, looks up at the statue lovingly, and Seungmin took the shot.

“Anybody else want a picture with the new handsome statue?” he asks after approving of Felix’s photo.

Hyunjin shoves Felix out of the way and places his chin in the statue’s hand, looking up at the statue with a pout. The others laughed at the pathetic puppy in front of them and Seungmin took the shot.

“Here, let me get one of you, Minnie,” Hyunjin said, taking the phone from Seungmin. Seungmin went up to the statue, then put up his own hand as a sign of rejection and put a disgusted look on his face. The three watching burst into giggles and Hyunjin took several shots.

“Jisung, do you want one?”

For once, Jisung fell silent.

He felt something twinge in his chest as he looked up at the statue. Nothing had changed; his friends were still laughing at Seungmin’s face, the moon was high in the sky at this point, the grass was green, the violets were growing sporadically, the statue was still there.

“What’s the problem, Ji? Is it too soon for a boyfriend?” Felix asked after too many beats of silence had passed.

“It’s never too soon for Ji to get a boyfriend. He spent nineteen years in the closet, dude’s probably desperate at this point,” Hyunjin said with a snort.

“I don’t know why I expected anything less than trouble when I came out to you idiots, remind me to never tell you people my deepest secrets ever again,” Jisung said. The others just kept laughing and eventually pushed him closer to the statue.

Seungmin had taken his phone back from Hyunjin as Jisung ambled up to the outstretched hand. Jisung’s eyes traced up the arm, past the broad shoulders, that stunning jawline, then landed onto the open eyes of the statue. There were no details in them, no irises or pupils, but he still felt like the marble was staring back. The squeezing feeling he felt in his chest got tighter, but Jisung didn’t retreat. If anything, as he rose his hand, the feeling began to warm.

Jisung forgot about the presence of his friends as his fingers slid across the smooth stone of the hand in front of him. He forgot about the moon and the grass and the violets and everything as he took the marble hand in his own.

And then the hand was gone.

And there was an exponential amount of weight in his arms.


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I genuinely cannot believe the amount of feedback I got on the first chapter. Truly, I am shaken to my core rn. I wasn't expecting this to get this many responses right away, I'm kind of floored. I really hope you guys like this chapter as well, and feel free to leave more comments and stuff. I know we're only a chapter in but ily uwu

Looking back, Jisung wishes this moment could have been a bit more magical. Maybe the wind could have picked up around the boys, maybe a voice could have shouted down from the heavens, maybe even some glitter in the air, but no.

Jisung collapsed onto the grass as soon as his arms filled with something new and heavy, letting out a loud OOMF as he landed hard on his butt. To say he was shocked was an understatement, but his nerves went completely out the window as the weight on top of him began to shift.

Jisung sat straight up and found himself face to face with the statue. Only the statue wasn’t gray and marble anymore. The statue had pale, soft skin and wavy, dark brown hair and deep, piercing eyes that were looking right into Jisung’s.

Both of their mouths fell open as they stared at each other. The feeling Jisung had in his chest when he first stepped up to touch this...person was back and burning even hotter. His chest felt tight, his heartbeat was going way too fast to be healthy, his eyes felt like they were going to pop out of his skull because this guy was even more beautiful in human form and Jisung had no idea how that was even possible and-

“HOLY SHIT!”

The man in Jisung’s lap jumped and whirled around to the other three boys a few feet away from them. Jisung’s friends looked almost as shocked as Jisung felt, their mouths open as wide as his, Seungmin’s phone forgotten and still poised up in his hand.

It was Hyunjin that had exclaimed and broken the two from their trance. His hands were buried in his hair, something Jisung knew he did when he was in awe.

So I’m not crazy, Jisung thought. They’re seeing this, too. This is real. This just happened.

“H-How did…,” Seungmin began to say, tripping over his words. “What even...Who even…”

Jisung cleared his throat, trying to collect himself, then murmured, “A-Are you...are you, uh, okay?”

The man whirled back to face Jisung, his expression still frozen in shock. But he opened his mouth and tried to say something, even though all that came out was dry air and a hoarse cough. Jisung’s arm instinctively came around to rub the man’s back, despite the fact that as soon as his hand made contact, sharp tingles ran through his nerves.

When he had caught his breath, the man looked back into Jisung’s eyes. They were deep and dark brown, almost black in color, but there was something behind them. Jisung always thought he was good with words, but in that moment, he couldn’t find a single one to describe this man’s eyes. He just...couldn’t look away. It made his heart beat faster and he could feel his palms getting clammy, but he just couldn’t.

“I-I’m okay,” the man whispered. His voice was small and still raspy, undoubtedly due to who knows how many years without use. “Are you okay? It s-sounded like you landed pretty hard.”

Jisung couldn’t help but let out a little laugh, but responded, “Uh, yeah, my ass kinda hurts, but I’m okay. I’m glad I caught you, or else you could have gotten hurt.”

“I’m glad you caught me, too,” the man said, a small smile gracing his lips. The light in his eyes changed.

Jisung had no time to react (thank GOD), as Felix suddenly ran over to the two still on the ground. For some reason, the boy began poking and prodding at the man, his small fingers digging into the man’s arms, legs, sides, eventually going to his face and poking his cheeks.

“Felix, what are you doing!?” Jisung exclaimed, shoving him away.

“What am I doing??” Felix shouted right back. “I’m trying to see if this dude is real! That did NOT just happen. Like it’s not possible, I know I sounded like an idiot when Seungmin was explaining all this, but it’s NOT physically possible for a person to be turned to stone or vice versa!”

“You think I don’t know that, Lix?” Jisung said, running a hand down his face. His own thoughts were running wildly, but at least he wasn’t assaulting the guy. The guy that was definitely still sitting in Jisung’s lap. He turned his attention back to him, and began to talk softer again, saying, “Here, let me help you up.”

The man shifted, placing his feet flat on the grass. Jisung squirmed out from beneath him, stood, albeit a little shakily, then held out his hand.

Please, Lord, don’t let my hand be too sweaty, he thought to himself.

The man didn’t seem too perturbed by however gross Jisung’s hand was, as he was mainly focusing on standing and staying stable. He stood like a newborn deer, his other arm shooting up in attempts to keep balance. Jisung bit back a smile. It was cute.

When he was standing upright and tried to step away from Jisung, he stumbled almost immediately. Jisung immediately wrapped his arm around the man’s back again and held him up.

“You sure you’re okay?” Jisung asked him.

“Y-Yeah, yeah, I am,” the man said. “I guess it’s just been a while since I’ve, uh, moved around, I guess.”

Jisung laughed again, then looked back up to his friends again. They were still staring at him.

“So...what do we do now?” Hyunjin asked after another beat of silence.

“How am I supposed to know?” Jisung asked.

“I mean…,” Felix said, looking down at the grass. “You were the one he-”

“Yes, I know that, Lix,” Jisung interrupted. He refused to think about the implications behind the no-longer-marble human being in his arms right now.

“Well, we can at least take him somewhere indoors,” Seungmin said with a shake of the head. He may have been the youngest, but he was always the one acting mature. “He kinda looks cold.”

Seungmin was right. It was June, but the nights can get chilly in Seoul. A breeze picked up through the park, rustling through the pines, and Jisung could see the man shiver. He was wearing an incredibly thin, white button-up and brown slacks, something that would normally be a fine outfit during the day.

“Where do we go, then?” Hyunjin asked, his hand raking through his hair again.

“We could go back to the diner?” Jisung suggested. “It’s close, and Chan and Woojin probably haven’t started closing up yet.”

“How do we explain this to them?” Felix asked hesitantly.

“I don’t know,” Jisung said truthfully. He barely knew how to explain this to himself. “We can figure that out on the way there. Let’s just get moving.”

The five of them began walking back to where they came from, despite clocking off only an hour ago. Since the man was still shaky on his feet, he and Jisung began to fall behind the others. Jisung was desperate for the silent air to be filled with something, with noise or conversation, anything-

“What’s your name?”

As if he was answering Jisung’s thoughts, the man next to him spoke. His voice was still small, as if he didn’t want to be heard by the others.

“Oh, uh, my name’s Jisung. Han Jisung,” he answered. Jisung pointed to the others in front of them and continued, saying, “The one in the glasses is Seungmin, the tall one is Hyunjin, and Felix is the one that attacked you earlier. I’m sorry about him, by the way.”

The man’s smile returned, making Jisung’s heart flutter a bit.

“It’s okay, no need to be sorry,” he said. “People react to weird things differently, and I think this counts as something weird.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s a little weird,” Jisung said with a laugh. “But still, it was a little much. Felix just gets too excited, I guess. You had just, uh...I don’t know, turned human again in who knows how long, that’s not exactly the first thing I’d want to deal with.”

“But it wasn’t the first thing I saw when I woke up,” the man said. Jisung looked up at him. He was a few inches taller than him, even while he was bent over a bit in fatigue. Jisung quirked an eyebrow at him as he looked down and made eye contact. The smile the man had made earlier made another appearance, and Jisung could feel the heat in his chest move to his cheeks.

“W-What do you mean, exactly?” Jisung asked. Stupidly, he thought. You really walked right into whatever this guy is about to say-

“I mean I saw you when I woke up,” the man stated, like it was the most obvious and simplest thing in the world. “Not a bad thing at all.”

Once again, before Jisung could even think of a way to respond to this, Felix spun around to face the two of them, saying, “We’re almost there. You doing okay?” The man just nodded, his smile changing into one more friendly, so Felix beamed back and turned around.

“Where are we going?” the man asked. Their previous conversation was completely disregarded, and Jisung didn’t know if he was thankful or not.

“We’re going to the diner we all work at,” Jisung responded. “It’s almost time for the owners to close, so it’ll be empty and quiet. We’re good friends with them, too, so they’ll be able to help us out and stuff.” The man just nodded, then stayed quiet for the rest of the walk.

Within the next few minutes, the diner’s storefront came into view. Sure enough, the establishment was empty as Chan and Woojin began cleaning and locking up. The other three began running over, knocking on the glass of the wide front windows. Jisung could see Chan raising his arms in question, the stress of the busy work day clear on his face.

“We’re almost there, you still okay?” Jisung asked the man.

“Yes, I’m fine,” he answered. “You guys are awfully concerned for someone you don’t know yet.”

“Well, can you blame us?” Jisung huffed. “You said it yourself, this is weird. But it’d be worse if we just ditched you in the park. We’re not like that.”

“That’s nice to know,” the man said. The warmer smile came back on his face, and Jisung couldn’t help but like that one a little more.

“Alright, you little assholes, what did you forget this time?” Jisung heard Chan’s voice a few feet away and smiled. No matter how many times the four of them were patronized, he would never get tired of them, and that’s what made Jisung love his boss. “You’re lucky you’re showing up now, thirty more minutes and Woojin was going to - oh, who’s this?”

Chan paused as his eyes landed on the man Jisung had an arm wrapped around. His normal, cheery mannerism was replaced with his customer face: jaw set, brows in a straight line, eyes displaying only kind curiosity.

“That’s a weird, long story, and why we’re here,” Seungmin said. “Can we come back in?”

Chan just looked at the boys in front of him, questions clearly running through his mind, but opened the front door wider for them and ushered them inside.

“Hey, kiddos,” Jisung heard Woojin say from deeper within the diner. “What did you dummies forget this time?”

“Kind of offended that both of you assume we’re back here because we left something,” Jisung said with a pout.

“Oh, please, it is at least weekly you guys come right back here an hour after you clock off because you left your keys or wallet or something similar,” Chan said with a laugh, to which Woojin just nodded emphatically.

“I just wanna say I’ve only left something once, it’s never happened since then,” Hyunjin said, throwing his hands up in defense.

“Wasn’t it both your keys AND your wallet?” Seungmin shot back. Hyunjin didn’t answer, just hit him in the back of the head again.

“Who’s the new guy?” Woojin asked, coming to meet the others in the middle of the diner.

Jisung could feel the man tense underneath his arms, and he couldn’t help but feel a little bad for him. Six sets of eyes were now trained on the nameless and lost individual next to him. Jisung had known these people for years now, but even he would feel the pressure right now.

The man took a deep and shaky breath, then spoke.

“Minho. Lee Minho.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave feedback for this chapter!! I hope you still like this story so far ack


	3. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I've figured out when and how often I want to write and publish stuff. I want to update every day I don't work my real job, but that honestly isn't very often, mostly on weekends with a couple days during the week. On days after I do work, I'll try to crank out a longer chapter to make up for lost time, you dig?
> 
> ALSO THE YELLOW WOOD TRAILER HOLY CRAP ON A CRACKER MAYHAPS IM GOING BROKE AGAIN
> 
> Anyways, I hope you like this chapter!! I gotta admit I like this one, so please lemme know if you agree lmao

“Wait, Lee Minho!?” Hyunjin exclaimed. “Like the actor?”

All eyes now swiveled over to the lanky boy, whose eyes were wide and filled with stars.

“What are you talking about?” Chan asked him.

“Lee Minho? You guys seriously don’t know him?” Hyunjin said, his hands placed on his hips. “Gu Junpyo from Boys Over Flowers?”

“Oh, holy shit!!” Felix practically yelled. “I didn’t know the actor’s name! That’s insane!”

The two of them began geeking out over the drama, while the rest continued to stare in confusion.

“Um...w-what are they talking about?” Minho whispered to Jisung. Jisung noticed that he was shrinking back away from the others, almost hiding behind him.

“Oh, it’s just a drama they watch, I guess,” Jisung answered.

“What’s that?” Minho asked.

“What’s what?”

“A d-drama…?”

Jisung couldn’t stop himself from staring up at him. Minho was looking at him with eyes filled with confusion, but it was mixed with wonder and something else Jisung couldn’t name.

“Oh, um...I don’t know how to describe it, really,” Jisung started. “How about this; later, I can show you stuff and try to explain whatever you’re confused about. Is that okay?” Minho’s eyes softened and nodded slowly, that fond smile coming back.

“Anyways, Minho,” Chan interrupted the stream of nonsense that was still flowing from the other two boys, bringing all attention to him and Jisung. For some reason, Jisung’s cheeks reddened, then reddened even more when he realized it. “Where did these fools pick you up? Did you come willingly or are you a victim of kidnapping?”

“We, uh...found him in the park?” Jisung offered. How on Earth do you explain this to someone who didn’t witness it?

“What do you mean by ‘found’?” Woojin asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Come on, let’s sit down,” Seungmin said with a sigh. “It’s a long story.”

Once again, the older two’s expressions were full of confusion; Chan’s eyebrow quirked and Woojin frowned, but when they saw that the younger were serious as they headed to their table, they just followed without question.

Once again, the group had claimed a spot as their own. It was the circle booth in the very far corner of the diner. Hardly any customers were sat back there, as it rarely got busy enough to fill out to the very corners of the establishment, so rather than let it collect dust, the group claimed another spot as their own. If some of them were finished with their shift before the others, they would sit there on their phones and wait, sometimes ordering food to make the rest of the shift a little harder for the ones still working. The six of them fit perfectly in the circle booth, so Jisung pulled up a chair to fit Minho.

Once they were all comfortably sat down, Minho took a shaky and deep breath. He began rubbing his hands up and down his thighs, and Jisung felt that pang in his chest again, only this time he knew it was one of concern. Jisung still didn’t know why exactly he felt so protective over this man he barely knew, but all he did know was that he could deal with his own confusion later. All he did know was that he really, really, really wanted to take Minho’s hand in his own.

“So?” Chan started after a beat or two of silence.

The younger four looked amongst each other, but the majority of their eyes landed on Seungmin. The youngest rolled his eyes, but he knew he wasn’t going to win that argument.

“Okay, so you know the statue in that park a few blocks away?” Seungmin began. Chan and Woojin nodded, so Seungmin kept going, saying, “And you know the myth behind it right?” They nodded again, implying for him to continue speaking, but Seungmin just gestured to Minho.

Chan cocked his head as Woojin’s eyebrows shot up. Woojin immediately whipped his head to look at Jisung, whose cheeks only got hotter. Jisung looked down at an incredibly interesting scratch on the wood of the table and started picking at it.

“Wait, I’m confused still,” Chan said.

“Channie, the myth behind the statue is that once it touches hands with its soulmate, it becomes human again,” Woojin said softly.

“O...kay?” Chan drawled.

“Minho was the statue, Chan,” Seungmin stated bluntly.

It was Chan’s turn to get whiplash and look over at Minho. As soon as his eyes landed on him, Minho became intrigued by the table as well. Jisung wanted to do something, say something, anything, but he was coming up blank.

“You guys are kidding, right?” Chan asked. He huffed out a laugh, then said, “This has gotta be a joke. You guys probably go to school together and wanted to prank us, right? Pretty weak, in my opinion, but-”

“Chan, we’re being serious,” Jisung interrupted.

That shut Chan up quickly. The combination of Jisung being quiet almost the entire time they had arrived back at the diner to the utter seriousness in his tone shook the entire table’s occupants to their core. Seeing Jisung without a goofy smile on his face and his mouth not spouting a thousand words a minute was honestly concerning to the rest of them.

Besides Minho, of course.

“How?” Chan continued. “How is that possible?”

“We don’t know, it just...happened,” Hyunjin said, also becoming stoic in tone. “One second he was just a marble statue we were taking pictures with and then it was Jisung’s turn and then he was...he was a real person.”

“Wait, you were taking pictures?” Woojin asked. “Do you have one of it happening?”

Seungmin sat up in the booth and pulled out his phone. Once he was in his camera roll, he slid it over to the two, who instantly bent over the screen and began to scroll.

First, it was Felix looking lovingly up at the statue.

Then it was Hyunjin’s chin in the marble hand.

Then it was Seungmin’s rejection.

And then it was Jisung on the ground, with a blurry Minho falling on top of him.

“Wait, I think it’s a live photo, too,” Seungmin said.

He reached over and pressed his finger down on the image. Sure enough, it began to move.

A calm Jisung was staring up at the statue’s face, slowly reaching for the hand. As soon as his skin made contact with stone, the dark gray of the marble turned white and tan and dark, then froze again in the blur seen in the captured picture.

“Holy shit,” was all Chan could manage out. Woojin just sat back, his mouth stuck in an ‘O’. The two of them once again looked up at Minho and Jisung, who refused to look anywhere but the tabletop.

“That means…,” Woojin murmured, and Jisung prayed to that damn deity that put him in this situation that nobody would finish his sentence.

Thankfully, all that was said was a confirming, “Yep” from Seungmin.

“So what are you going to do now?” Chan asked. He was looking directly at Minho at this point.

He was still looking down, his dark hair covering his eyes, but he whispered, “I...I don’t know, really.”

“Obviously he’ll stay with us,” Felix said after a beat of silence. “We can’t just leave him to wander the streets or whatever.”

“No, of course not,” Chan said reassuringly. “We would never do that to Minho, even if we don’t know him yet. This is just a...really, incredibly weird situation. And it’s late, I can’t really wrap my head around anything quite yet.”

“I don’t think any of us can,” Hyunjin murmured. “No matter what time of day it would be, this is just fuckin’ weird.”

“Okay, how about this,” Woojin said. He propped his arms on the table, addressing the entire table. “Let’s all just...go home and go to bed. Go to sleep. Chan and I can keep the diner closed tomorrow, and we can all just...talk and figure out the rest of this situation. Does that sound okay?” Again, the question was pointed at Minho, who just nodded once.

“Alright, that sounds like the best plan of action we have as of now,” Chan said. “So all of you, get out of my diner so we can close. We are WAY past closing hours.”

So the five boys went out the way they came, waving to the two eldest through the window as they began to walk away.

Once again, Jisung and Minho fell behind the other three. Not because Minho was still slow on unsteady feet, but because Jisung knew he could use a breath of fresh air from a cramped space and too many people.

“Hey, are you doing okay?” Jisung asked after a few minutes of walking. “I know I keep asking that, but I feel like it keeps becoming necessary to check in.”

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine,” Minho said. But his voice was small and shaky, not as sure of himself as he was when he answered the first hundred times Jisung had asked him.

“For some reason, I feel like that’s not true,” Jisung retorted.

Minho’s expression unfroze, that small smile making another appearance, and he just said, “You already know me so well after only an hour of knowing each other, huh?”

“Well, we’re soulmates, apparently, isn’t that in the job description?”

It was Minho’s turn to blush. Jisung felt quite proud of himself.

“I just...I feel like a burden to you all now,” Minho said quietly, almost just a whisper. If Jisung wasn’t walking so close to him, he didn’t think he would have been able to hear him. “You guys don’t know me at all, I literally fell on top of you and now I feel like you’re stuck with me or something.”

“Not at all, Minho,” Jisung reassured instantly. “Please don’t think like that. All of us stumbled into each other one way or another, that’s just how this group was formed. The first night I met Felix was the same night he moved into my apartment. We’re just good at finding lost people and making sure they don’t feel like that anymore. Okay?”

Minho didn’t say anything, but a new smile appeared on his features. It was small, smaller than the other two Jisung had seen tonight. It was really just a slight upturn of the corners of his lips, but the smile instantly blossomed in his dark eyes. That pang returned in Jisung’s chest again, but this pang was different, too. This one was just...warm. It was similar to the feeling when he saw Felix’s look of relief after setting his one duffle bag in Jisung’s living room that first night they spent together, it was similar to the feeling he got when Hyunjin got his first solo dance recital at school, it was similar to the feeling when his boss, Chan, gave Jisung his cell phone number to call whenever he needed someone.

It was a feeling of content, of pride, of protectiveness, of that one thing Jisung still couldn’t put his finger on, but Jisung couldn’t care about that right now.

Felix and Jisung’s apartment was the building that always comes first, so the three wished Seungmin and Hyunjin goodnight and went inside.

Jisung wished he had known they would be having company over tonight so he could have cleaned up the place, but alas, this wasn’t exactly on their schedule.

The apartment wasn’t anything special: two small bedrooms that could only fit a bed and a dresser, one bathroom, a kitchenette area sectioned off only by a small island, and the living room area marked by an old, ratty-looking couch and a TV. There were large windows, though, which Jisung liked a lot. He loved staring out into the quiet outskirts of Seoul late at night, when he should be sleeping but had too much on his mind. It wasn’t a lot, but it was his first place away from his parents, so Jisung was content.

“I’ll let you figure out your sleeping situation, mate, I’m going to bed,” Felix said with a yawn. He clapped Jisung on the back then stalked off to his room, closing the door behind him.

It was too quiet to be comfortable for Jisung and Minho.

“I can sleep on the couch for a while, it’s no big deal,” Jisung rambled, almost tripping over his words from how fast they left his mouth.

“Oh, um, o-okay,” Minho stuttered.

They slipped off their shoes and Minho followed Jisung to the other bedroom. Again, the room wasn’t big by any means, but Jisung had made it his own. The dark blue walls were covered in posters of his favorite rappers and movie stars (maybe some had hearts drawn around the faces, and Jisung could only hope Minho didn’t look at them that closely), and of course, the floor was hardly visible beneath the piles of clothes scattered about.

“I’m sorry about all this, I know I’m a pig,” Jisung said, scratching the back of his neck.

Minho just giggled (GIGGLED, Jisung was baffled), and murmured, “It’s okay, it’s not like I’m sleeping on the floor.”

“But you still need to somehow get to the bed,” Jisung said. He stooped down and began picking up articles of dirty clothing, throwing them to the general direction of his laundry hamper, so he could make some sort of path from the door to the bed. “Here, let me get you something comfortable to sleep in.”

Jisung made his way to his dresser and pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt with his favorite band on it, then handed them to Minho.

He instantly began running his fingers over the material, looking completely entranced by just cotton and fleece.

“It’s so soft,” Minho said, mostly to himself, but Jisung still heard and maybe his heart swelled a little at how innocently he said it.

“I’ll turn around, go ahead and change,” Jisung said, then turned his back to the other boy.

“Why turn around?”

Jisung froze, heat rising to his face again.

When did you start getting so flustered so easily? he asked himself.

“Why?” he repeated, successfully not letting his voice break. “I don’t know, I don’t like it when people see me changing.”

“Oh,” Minho said simply. “I mean, okay. Whatever you wanna do.”

Jisung just shook his head and stayed facing away from Minho. He began taking deep breaths in attempts to control his blood pressure as he heard the shuffling of fabric behind him.

After a second or two, Jisung heard Minho say, “You’re okay now.”

Jisung turned right as Minho was pulling his shirt down over his torso. And of course he saw that pale sliver of skin right before the top settled on his body. And of course the blush flew right back to his cheeks.

Minho looked down at the shirt and pointed at the logo and said, “What is this?”

“Oh, it’s Day6’s logo,” Jisung answered. “They’re my favorite band, I got that when I went to their show last September.”

Minho just gave him another look of confusion, his eyes blinking a few times as his mouth hung open a little, and Jisung instantly wanted to slap his own forehead.

“Sorry, I keep forgetting you don’t really know anything about our time now,” Jisung said meekly. Minho looked just as shy about the realization and dropped the question. “Okay, well, if you’re good, I’ll be on the couch out there.”

As soon as Jisung began to walk out of the room and flipped the light switch off, Minho’s voice instantly rang out, saying, “Wait!”

Jisung turned back, flipping the light back on, and stared. Minho’s eyes were wide, filled with worry and something close to fear.

“What’s wrong?” he asked the other. Minho began playing with his fingers, not answering right away. “Minho?”

“I just...I just, uh,” Minho began to whisper. He looked into Jisung’s eyes and sighed, his shoulders sinking, then said, “I just don’t want to be alone anymore.”

The pang came back, and it was a heavy one at that. Of course Minho wouldn’t want to be alone right now. Especially sleeping in the dark in an unfamiliar place.

The only problem was that Jisung’s bed could barely fit two people.

“O-Okay,” Jisung stuttered. “That’s fine, I understand. It’s gonna be a tight fit on that thing, though.”

“That’s okay,” Minho said instantly. Jisung wondered if his blush would become permanent.

Jisung didn’t say anything, just went over to his dresser, grabbed something comfortable, said, “I’ll be right back,” then stumbled over to the bathroom.

As Jisung changed into his pajamas, his mind couldn’t stop rushing.

Sleeping in the same bed as a handsome stranger that was apparently his soulmate.

This is just too cliche.

Despite knowing this, Jisung went right back to his bedroom to see Minho already perched on the side of the bed closest to the wall. Jisung just nodded, mostly to himself, then turned off the light and clambered into his bed.

There were several minutes of silence, with just the two of them staring up at the ceiling in the dark, the sound of their breathing the only thing noticeable in the room.

Eventually, sleep finally began to overtake Jisung’s loud consciousness.

Right before his heavy eyelids closed, he felt a warm hand slip into his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is still loved and encouraged!!! Y'all are seriously way too kind to me, I don't understand why oomf.
> 
> ALSO IF YOU WANNA SCREAM ABOUT YELLOW WOOD OR ANYTHING SKZ (shameless plug) you can follow the fan acc I share with my friends on insta @ultimate.biases or my twt @whoreracha I'm way more active on insta tho I'm not good at twt lol. DM me and said Jisung sent you or smth uwu AND WE CAN START SCREAMING ABOUT YELLOW WOOD OKAY GO


	4. 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope a few of your questions were answered in this chapter. I read every single one of the comments you guys leave, and I can honestly say it does help me figure out what to write and stuff. You guys are truly the best, I don't know why y'all are so nice to me lmao
> 
> also,,,the first three teaser pics came out this morning and I am shaken to the core,,,gotta love Aussie line amiright
> 
> Keep leaving me feedback!! It genuinely helps me out and I love seeing how much you guys are enjoying this so far. Mayhems you are spoiling me uwu

Jisung woke up feeling more cramped than normal.

As soon as the light filtered in through the single window of his room, Jisung was blinking awake and feeling like there was too much in his bed. Granted, the thing wasn’t big, and Jisung often found himself almost falling off multiple times, but this was a different and foreign feeling.

And then he remembered what had happened the night before, and he remembered the person that was sharing his bed.

Lee Minho was curled into Jisung’s chest, his legs pulled up beneath him and his arms close to his body to form a ball. His nose was almost touching Jisung.

God, Jisung was tired of the hot feeling in his cheeks that arose every two seconds.

However, Jisung couldn’t bring himself to scoot away from the man next to him. In a way, he couldn’t really blame Minho for wanting to be close to another human being. Who knew how long he had been frozen in time, completely alone and isolated from the rest of society? Was he even conscious during this time? Jisung didn’t know what could have been worse, honestly: one minute being in your own time that you’re familiar with then waking up in one in the future, or being fully awake and knowing exactly what was going on around you and not being able to do anything.

It was in this moment of contemplation that Jisung finally allowed his mind to wander to the implications behind the fact that Minho was here, with him especially.

Jisung didn’t know if he even believed in the idea of soulmates, let alone whatever deity it was that apparently created such a thing. The idea of another human being existing in the world that was made perfectly for you, that somehow enhances you to be powerful enough to scare gods was something ripped straight from a fairytale, something you stopped believing in once you reached a certain age.

And yet, Jisung’s own soulmate was sleeping right next to him.

He knew that Minho was his, he couldn’t deny it. Since this myth behind the statue was actually fact, then Jisung had no choice but to acknowledge that he had his soulmate curled up in his tiny bed in his shitty apartment after knowing him for less than twelve hours. And Minho knew Jisung was his soulmate, too.

What were they supposed to do now?

Thankfully or not, Jisung heard a soft knock on his bedroom door. Felix poked his face in after a few seconds, and upon seeing Jisung’s open eyes, he took a step in.

He froze once he saw Minho’s sleeping form in the bed as well, then whispered, “Ah, so you both slept here, okay. I was wondering where you were, I saw the couch was empty.”

“Ah, y-yeah, he, uh...he really didn’t want to be alone last night, so I, uh, just let him sleep here,” Jisung tried to explain.

Felix just nodded, then said, “Okay, well, Chan just texted me. He and Woojin are at the diner now, when do you wanna go?”

“I don’t really know how easy it’ll be to wake this guy up, so honestly, if you want to go ahead and get Seungmin and Hyunjin, we can meet you there,” Jisung said.

Felix nodded again, saying, “That’s fine with me. I’m probably gonna stop by a coffee shop, do you want your usual?”

“Yes, please!” Jisung whisper shouted. Felix gave a thumbs up and began closing the door, so Jisung said, “Love you, Lixie!”

When the door clicked back into place, Minho began to stir.

“Hey, you awake?” Jisung murmured.

Minho just buried his head deeper into the pillow beneath his head, responding with only a groan.

“Listen, I get it, but we gotta get moving, okay?” Jisung continued. “We’re meeting with the others again today.”

“Don’t wanna.”

“Why not?” Jisung didn’t want to notice how deep and raspy Minho’s voice was in the morning.

“Too many people.”

“What do you mean?”

“Overwhelming.”

Jisung let out a small sigh. Once again, he refused to blame Minho for feeling this way.

“How about I help you with that?” Jisung offered.

“...How?”

“Here, let’s get up first.”

Jisung lifted himself from the comfort of the mattress beneath him and swung his legs over and off his bed, standing and stretching out his limbs. He turned and saw Minho huddled into an even tighter ball, as if the absence of Jisung’s body had made him cold. Jisung held out his hand, waiting expectantly. Minho just stared at him through squinted eyes, but after a beat, he slowly took it. Jisung helped him shift and shuffle out of bed and released his hand so he could stretch as well.

Jisung then lead him out and walked over to the kitchen area and pulled out one of the barstools tucked underneath the overhanging countertop of the island, giving it a soft pat, implying for Minho to sit. He followed Jisung’s instruction as Jisung stood on the other side and rested his arms on the counter.

“Can I ask you stuff about yourself?” Jisung asked after a second of silence. Minho’s first apparent emotion of the day was apprehension, but he nodded, so Jisung continued and said, “How old are you?”

Minho’s nervousness melted into something close to shock, but eventually broke into his small smile, and said, “I’m twenty-one.”

“Damn, so you’re older than me, huh?” Jisung sighed. “I’m just twenty.” Minho smirked, but Jisung continued and asked, “What do you like to do?”

Minho’s eyes instantly lit up as he said, “Dance. I love to dance.”

“Ah, your statue’s title was ‘The Lonely Dancer’,” Jisung said. “And you were posed in a dance position. It was really...uh, cool, I guess.” Jisung began to feel flustered again as he thought back to last night, especially when he thought of Hyunjin’s comment on how hot dancers were.

“Thank you, Sungie.”

Jisung almost lost it.

“S-Sungie!?” Jisung choked out.

Minho cocked his head and blinked at him, then said, “Yeah. It’s a cute nickname. It fits-”

“I think the others are waiting for us, we should probably head out now,” Jisung rambled out, instantly lifting himself from the island’s counter. He stumbled over to the shoes that awaited them at the front door, waiting for the sound of Minho following behind him, then went out the door.

It was far too early for this.

~

After a silent walk, Jisung and Minho arrived back at the diner where the others were waiting for them. As soon as they walked through the doors, Felix wagged Jisung’s iced americano and chocolate pastry in the air and Jisung squealed.

“Thank you, Lixie!” Jisung said, smooching Felix on the top of his head. Felix pushed him off, but smiled nonetheless.

“How’d you guys sleep?” Chan asked the two newcomers once they had pulled Minho’s chair back over and settled into their booth.

“Good,” Jisung answered simply, and Minho nodded with him. Jisung saw Felix’s smirk from the corner of his eye and instantly smacked his chest. Felix just giggled and said nothing.

“Okay, so,” Woojin began. Jisung could see Minho shifting uncomfortably in his chair, and the sense of protectiveness instantly washed over him again. “I just want to get straight to the point and ask the question I know we’re all thinking; how was whatever happened possible, Minho?”

All eyes were on the new addition to their table. Minho was looking back down at the tabletop and trying to breathe steadily. Jisung wanted more than anything to comfort him in this moment, somehow. So he finally pushed away his doubts and quietly laid his hand on Minho’s thigh, fingers up. An invitation. And Minho took it. He slowly reached for Jisung’s hand, lacing his fingers through his own, and squeezed. Jisung squeezed back, hoping it would somehow encourage Minho in this moment of panic and uncertainty.

“Um, I really don’t know myself, if I’m being honest,” he began quietly. “I guess I should start explaining by talking about where I come from.

“I was born a few years after Japan invaded Korea, but the impact of that hadn’t quite reached my village. We were aware of it happening, of course, but there wasn’t much we could do, anyways. While I was growing up, we were taught about the importance of finding your daleun ban, your other half. Since the threat of Japanese warriors was constant, we were always told that if we found our daleun ban, we would be able to overtake them and continue living peacefully in our village. However, as I grew up, I began feeling more...scared, I guess. My parents would constantly be setting me up on dates with other girls that lived around us, but I never felt that connection that I was told I would feel once I had found my other half. It was all just...empty. I felt terrible, especially when I told my parents after I returned home. They had found each other early in life and had been inseparable ever since, so they didn’t know what to say or how to help me.

“One day, a kid ran into the village square and started shouting about how he had seen samurai marching. They were on their way to overtake us. Of course, we all were beyond terrified, and a huge panic just took over everyone. There were people running everywhere, trying to hide or run away, and all I could really hear that day was screaming and crying. All I could feel was the need to protect my parents. They were older at that point, they couldn’t defend themselves properly. But they wouldn’t listen to me.

“They kept telling me they had each other, and that I had no one. How could I defend myself or fight back or do anything worthwhile when I was alone? I knew they weren’t trying to be hurtful, they were just worried and wanted to protect me as well, but it hurt. God, it hurt so bad. I’ve felt nothing but emptiness and loneliness my entire life, watching my friends and classmates around me find their other halves, and I had nobody. Not even my own parents. That feeling mixed with the fear of knowing the Japanese soldiers were on their way to do whatever it is they did to the rest of Korea, I just...I can genuinely say it was the worst day of my life.”

After he said this, Minho fell silent for a second. The quiet laid on top of the group like a thick blanket, almost suffocatingly so. Jisung took this moment to squeeze Minho’s hand again, then started stroking his hand with his thumb. Minho squeezed back, a little halfheartedly, but after another breath, he began speaking again.

“Anyway, my parents finished their lecture and told me to follow them. Our village was located at the very bottom of a mountain. Not a very large one, but still loomed over us. My parents took me up to the top where an old woman lived by herself. They began speaking to her quietly, as if they didn’t want me to hear what they were saying. Eventually, the woman stopped speaking and nodded, then looked over at me. My parents did, too, then told me that she would be able to protect me. I thought that meant they would hide me up here while the village was overtaken, but...no.

“The woman walked over to me and took my hand, then lead me a room deeper into her little shack of a house. I don’t know if my parents stayed in the front room or went back down to the village, but they didn’t follow. The room we went to was completely bare, aside from an empty podium. She made me stand up on it, and then started...telling me how to pose. She told me to raise one arm above my head and stretch out my other one, to point one of my feet, and to look down at my outstretched hand. I was beyond confused and a little nervous. She then took my hand and closed her eyes.

“I wish the actual transformation or whatever was a lot more interesting than it really was. One second I felt normal, the next I was just cold. I couldn’t move and I was so cold. I started freaking out, but I couldn’t even hyperventilate or sweat or anything. I was literally frozen in place. The woman started speaking then, saying, “What I’ve done is a very old spell, one that traces back to long before our village, long before Japan or Korea or any other country was formed. Your parents explained to me that you still haven’t found your daleun ban, and I do not think they are here. I can sense all connecting auras in our time now, and I don’t believe yours has been born yet. Your aura is reaching out, but it fades at the end. I don’t want you to leave this Earth without having connected to your daleun ban, especially since our village will be going through something very dangerous and life-threatening. You will be safe in this form, until your daleun ban finds you. You will be freed again once they find you. You will be okay, I promise, Minho.” And then she walked away.

“I was so angry at that point. I was angry at my parents for doing this without telling me or asking if I wanted to do this, for thinking I couldn’t defend myself. I was angry at the woman for doing this to me. I was angry at Japan for invading our country, at our country for not trying to protect our village. I was angry and sad and scared and just...hopeless.

“The days went by about as slowly as you could imagine. I never got tired or hungry or thirsty, the only thing I could feel was boredom and how damn cold I was. After a year or two, I think at least, I found that I was in a completely different place. I was no longer in that little house on the mountain, I was in a park. Not the one you guys found me at, a different one. For once, I saw other people. Other human beings were milling about around me, chasing around their kids or walking their dogs, some even stopped to look at me. I knew they weren’t seeing me, though, not really. Since I was ‘posed’ looking down at my hand, I knew what I looked like to them. I was made of stone to them, just a slab of marble shaped to somewhat look like a man.

“And then they started touching my hand after reading that plaque on the base I was stood on. At first, I started getting excited. Maybe I would finally be able to be free, maybe I could finally be with my other half and feel safe again. But, of course, nothing ever happened. After years and years of feeling nothing different when hundreds of thousands of people took my hand, I began feeling hopeless again. Every few years, my location would change again, and I realized it was due to other statues being found and becoming free after having found their daleun ban. I found out after hearing some people talk about the statue before me disappearing, and that I must have replaced it overnight. I knew that there must have been other people frozen in time, just like me, and for a moment I felt hope again. But then I remembered that my being there meant that they had been able to leave the podium and live their lives happily with their other half.

“I don’t really know how much time has passed, I stopped trying to keep track. I forgot what being a real human was like because I’d just been frozen for so long. Then last night happened. When the sun went down, for some reason, I felt...different. I didn’t want to feel like that, but I couldn’t help it. I heard shouting at the edge of the trees around the park and the feeling grew. I saw the four of them - Jisung, Felix, Hyunjin, and Seungmin - start to run over to me and they started talking.”

“So you heard me say dancers are hot?” Hyunjin asked. The different, intruding voice made Minho look up in surprise, but he smiled anyways.

“Yeah, I did. I thought it was funny, and true, of course,” he responded. Hyunjin beamed back, and Minho continued. “Of course, they started taking pictures, like almost everyone in the past had once the technology had advanced. I didn’t feel nervous until it was Jisung’s turn. That different feeling began to feel hot in my chest, and for some reason I began to feel apprehensive. I just knew that something was going to change.

“And then Jisung touched my hand, and just like when I turned the first time, I suddenly could move again. I fell on top of Jisung and I was alive again, I was flesh and bone, I was breathing and my blood was flowing and I could feel the grass underneath us and feel the wind on my skin and now…

“Now here we are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you keep leaving feedback or any thoughts you're having so far!! I love writing this, I really really do.


	5. 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI oh my gosh I'm sorry this took so long to update. My only excuse is that I've been a busy and tired boy and was working all weekend, and I'll be busy again this upcoming weekend. I wanted to post again to try and make up for lost time, but this is a shorter chapter and not a lot happens, but I felt bad and I felt like I needed to post SOMETHING. I tried to make it soft and cute. I hope you guys enjoy this, even if it's not a lot. Thank you again for reading this!!!

“And here we are,” Chan repeated Minho. Minho let out a sigh and sat back in his chair, mentally preparing himself for whatever onslaught was coming his way.

“I just…,” Seungmin started, shaking his head. “I just can’t imagine what that must have been like. Just...being awake that entire time? Minho, I’m so sorry.”

Jisung took this moment to look over at Minho and his heart almost broke.

Minho’s eyes were welling with tears. Jisung could see the determined look within them, and he could tell Minho didn’t want them to spill. He refused to look up at the others, just kept looking down at the table. Jisung squeezed his hand again and Minho squeezed back, but his grip stayed tight.

“This is definitely a, uh...different situation,” Woojin mumbled. “But Minho, we want you to know that you’re not alone anymore. You never have to be again, okay?”

Minho nodded again, and Jisung didn’t know if it was the movement of his head or the depth of his situation, but a tear finally fell. Jisung instantly reached over and wiped it away, but more followed.

Jisung looked around at his friends, eyes widening. Chan made eye contact with him, then nodded to the bathroom that was behind them. Jisung stood and helped Minho stand, not once releasing his hand. Jisung led him to the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

Once the two of them were alone, Minho let out an ugly sob, burying his face in his hands. Jisung’s spirits fell exponentially. He wanted to smack himself for not knowing what to do.

A strong surge rushed through him and without knowing why, he gathered Minho into his arms and let him cry into his shoulder. Jisung brought one hand around to settle on Minho’s back, and the other went to his hair, slowly stroking the soft strands.

After a few seconds, Jisung began to murmur in Minho’s ear, saying, “You’re okay. Everything’s okay. You’re here, you’re alive. I promise you’re okay now.” He kept whispering those reassurances to Minho, and eventually his cries began to quiet down.

“I’m s-sorry,” he heard Minho whimper below him.

“Why are you sorry?” Jisung said quietly back.

“I m-made your shirt wet.”

Jisung couldn’t help but chuckle a little, then said, “That’s fine, Minho, it’ll dry. I can change when we go back home.”

“Home?”

Jisung realized what he said and began to stutter, “Y-Yeah, the apartment. Where Felix and I live. If you want, you can stay with us, I don’t think Felix would-”

Jisung stopped short once he felt Minho’s arms wrap around him and held tight.

“Please,” Minho said, his voice breaking. “I don’t know where else to go. I know the others would be nice and all, but I...I trust you.”

“Of course, Minho,” Jisung said, trying to ignore the leap in his chest. “Chan and Woojin would welcome you any day of the week, just like they did with the rest of us. But if you’re more comfortable with Felix and me, that’s fine, too.”

Minho lifted his head from Jisung’s shoulder and sniffed, wiping underneath his eyes. When he looked back at Jisung, his expression fell into one of worry, and said, “Why are you crying?”

Jisung furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He looked into the mirror behind Minho, and sure enough, there were tear tracks marking his own cheeks. Jisung released himself from Minho’s grasp and stepped closer to the mirror, shocked at his appearance.

“I...I don’t know,” he said honestly. “I guess I’m just really emotional. I cry when other people cry.” He looked at Minho’s reflection and saw that small smile appear again, then he looked down to the floor. Jisung couldn’t help but smile too.

He turned back to Minho and wiped away the remaining loose tears from his face.

“Thank you, Jisung,” Minho whispered, still looking at the grimy tiles beneath their feet.

“Of course, Minho,” Jisung said again. “Are you okay to go back out?” Minho nodded slowly, so Jisung opened the bathroom door and opened it for him, walking out after him.

However, Minho froze not even two steps out of the bathroom. Jisung looked at him, confused, then looked back over to the table. The others were talking and laughing, like any other day, but a new person was sitting in Minho’s chair, with another person standing behind them.

“Jeonginnie!” Jisung exclaimed once he saw the yellow school uniform.

The youngest of their friend group whirled around, already beaming.

“Jisungie!” Jeongin squealed. He trotted over to him and threw his arms around Jisung, squeezing tight. His bright smile was practically permanent on his face.

“No greeting for me?”

Jisung looked over to the person in Minho’s chair and saw Changbin pouting back at him.

“Not if you make that face,” Jisung said with a scowl. Nonetheless, he walked over to his and slung himself around Changbin’s shoulders and pinched his cheeks.

Changbin shoved him off and said, “Never mind, I don’t wanna talk to you, anyways.”

Jisung rolled his eyes, then said, “Why are you here? Isn’t it a bit early for you to be conscious right now?”

“Felix texted me.”

Jisung’s face instantly broke into a teasing smile and said, “Ah, of course. Whatever Felix says, am I right, Lixie?” Felix just blushed and tried swinging for him. Jisung ducked away from his arm and made his way back to Minho, who was still stuck close to the bathroom.

“There’s more?” he heard Minho say under his breath.

“This is the whole group,” Jisung said back. “It’s just the eight of us. Well, nine now.” Minho just stayed silent, his mouth in a line and his eyes wide. “Jeongin is the youngest, he’s the one in the uniform. Changbin’s the one who took your chair. He’s older than me, younger than you. He might try to look scary, but he’s a softie on the inside.” Minho nodded once and blinked a couple times, seemingly analyzing the people in front of him. “You okay?” Jisung asked quietly.

“It’s just…,” Minho started. “A lot of people in one room. I feel cramped.”

Jisung just nodded and said, “We can go back, then. I’m sure they’d understand. Do you want to wait for me outside?” Minho nodded again and booked it for the front doors.

Jisung walked back over to the table of his friends and made eye contact with Chan again. Chan looked over to Minho standing outside and cocked his head.

“He wants to go back to the apartment,” Jisung said, answering the unasked question. “He said it’s just a lot of people all at once, I don’t want him to get overwhelmed.”

Chan just nodded, then said, “Text us if you need anything, okay?”

Jisung nodded and began to walk away, then turned back and said, “Actually, can I get my paycheck early? I wanna buy a ton of food he wouldn’t have had back then.” Chan just smiled and scooted out of the booth, motioning for Jisung to follow him.

They walked into the kitchen where Chan kept the paychecks in an envelope. He pulled out Jisung’s and as he was handing it over, he said, “So. Soulmate, huh?”

Jisung blushed furiously and avoided eye contact.

“I, uh...yeah, I guess so,” Jisung murmured. He scratched the back of his neck and continued, “I didn’t even think those were real, but...how can I deny what’s right in front of me, in front of all of us?”

Chan just shrugged and, with a cheeky smile, said, “I don’t think you can, Ji. Do you like him?”

“L-Like him?” Jisung stuttered. “Like him how?”

“In the way soulmates are supposed to like each other,” Chan said bluntly, his stupid smile never leaving his features.

“I-I don’t know, I just met him,” Jisung said, trying to sound nonchalant and not like his heart was beating out of his chest. “But there is this part of me that...that, I don’t know, I-”

“I get it,” Chan said wistfully, his eyes trailing back out to where the others were sitting. Woojin was laughing at something Changbin had said, and the look in Chan’s eyes softened.

“Damn, when did we all get so whipped for each other?” Jisung said.

Chan just huffed out a laugh and said, “I wish I knew.” He looked back at Jisung and said, “However you feel, Minho needs you right now. He needs normalcy again. I wish I knew how to help, but believe it or not, I’ve never had to deal with something like this before.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Jisung said, shaking his head. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Shut up and get out,” Chan said, though the smile remained painted on his face as he shoved him out of the kitchen.

Jisung waved to his friends as he made his way to the front door, and he heard Jeongin say, “Who’s that guy with Jisung?”

“That is a bit of a story to tell, Innie,” Hyunjin said as Jisung left the building.

Minho looked over to Jisung as he came outside, his small smile appearing again.

Jisung didn’t know how he felt about this new man in his life, but he did know he liked it when he smiled.

“Ready to go?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to comment on this chapter again!! Questions, concerns, anything helps me and inspires me to keep writing and gives me ideas for the future of this story. All the boys are finally in the picture, lesgeddit.


	6. 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my god she's finally posting.
> 
> I am so sorry this took so ass long to upload, I got busy with work and traveling and then fuckiNG YELLOW WOOD CAME OUTKSKDHFHFKSJHDFKJSFDKJ
> 
> Yellow Wood is seriously so good, I love the Side Effects music video and TMT is so, so good and if The Road Not Taken was longer, it would definitely own my ass. if you wanna scream about it with me, dm me @ultimate.biases on insta and just go.
> 
> anyways, sorry for the long wait, I hope you like this and don't forget to leave me your thoughts!!

Jisung looked over at Minho and burst out laughing.

Minho was slumped halfway down the couch, his eyes wide and mouth slightly open with a hand perched on his now bloated stomach. The rest of his limbs were limp and spread out around him, resembling that of a starfish.

Minho slowly moved his eyes from the mountain of empty takeout cartons to Jisung’s hunched over form, still giggling at him.

“W-Why are you laughing at me?” Minho said sluggishly.

“B-Because,” Jisung said as he gasped for air. “It’s just...just a mood.”

Minho’s eyes squinted at him, eyebrows furrowing, which only made Jisung laugh harder.

“I...I don’t…”

“I know you don’t, I’m sorry,” Jisung said, wiping underneath his eyes. “God, I feel like I’m talking to someone’s grandpa. Someone’s young and attractive grandpa.”

At Jisung’s slip, Minho’s eyes lit from within and he sat up some.

“Attractive, huh-”

“Shut up,” Jisung interrupted instantly. “Let’s move on.”

Jisung stood and began removing the different towers of takeout boxes from the floor in front of the couch and shuffled over to the kitchenette where the trashcan was located. After he pushed the containers down as far as they could go, he turned and saw Minho standing right in front of him.

Jisung let out a squeal and his hands flew up, going from protecting his face to holding them out in half-formed fists.

Minho just giggled and said, “What are you doing?”

“You can’t just sneak up on a person without expecting some kind of reaction, sir,” Jisung said in defense. He lowered his hands, smoothing out his shirt on the way down.

“I didn’t know you were so jumpy.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”

“Then tell me.”

“Fine.” And with that, Jisung took Minho’s hand and walked back to the living area and plopped themselves down on the couch, Jisung on one side and Minho on the other. Jisung brought up his feet to rest on the cushions and grabbed the pillow behind him, tucking it between his chest and his thighs and rested his chin on it, facing Minho. The other did the same, the light still glinting in his eyes. That made Jisung nervous, but he refused to show it in his voice as he said, “Ask away.”

With no hesitation, Minho asked, “When are you happiest?”

With almost similar timing, Jisung said, “I love being with my friends, even if we’re working and we’re tired and don’t want to be at the diner any more. They make me laugh, they make me forget about the stuff that’s troubling me. Even with Jeongin being younger than us and Woojin being older, we all just...fit together, like we belong together and always have.”

“When else?” Minho asked. Jisung rose an eyebrow and Minho continued, saying, “I mean, you can’t always be with your friends. That would be ideal, of course, but you only live with Felix, and even then there must be times when he’s not here. When are you happiest when you’re alone?”

Jisung took longer to think over it, but it still didn’t take long for him to answer, “When I’m writing. I can make my brain quiet when I get all of it’s content out on paper. The others tell me I’m good at it, but I don’t know.”

“What do you write?” Minho asked, cocking his head in curiosity.

Jisung could feel that god-forsaken blush creep to his cheeks, but he said, “A lot of poetry, really. There are some that I feel like could be turned into songs, but that’ll probably never happen.”

“Can I read some?” Minho asked, but Jisung instantly began shaking his head.

“No, no, no, you wouldn’t want to,” he assured the other. “I only let Changbin and Chan read them, and even then I only let them read the passable ones. The others suck, seriously.”

“I doubt that,” Minho said simply, a smile gracing his lips.

“You can’t doubt me when you haven’t had any reason to believe in the first place,” Jisung mumbled. “You haven’t read any of it.”

“I know, you just seem like someone that’s good with words,” Minho said, the smile getting a bit bigger. “Listening to you talk is really...interesting.”

“Interesting how?”

Minho shrugged and said, “Just is.” Jisung rolled his eyes and ignored the thumping in his chest.

“When are you happiest then?” Jisung asked back.

Minho’s soft smile returned and his eyes drifted down to his hands, and he began to whisper, “Well, I really, really liked dancing when I was young. All the kids did it for the village, and the adults loved it, but I wanted to keep doing it. I think the best day of my life back then was when my parents got me my own hanbok for my birthday, and I didn’t have to keep borrowing from our school. They couldn’t afford one that had pretty colors or designs, it was just silvery and gray, but I still loved it. I loved wearing it and I loved dancing in it. I think my favorite was the Buchae Chum dance, a dance that uses fans. That dance was so fun, and it was after that where my parents finally began to see how seriously I was taking it and began to support me more. I was able to dance instead of focus on...you know.”

Minho trailed off and Jisung stupidly asked, “What?”

Minho blanched a bit, but he murmured, “Not having a soulmate.”

“O-Oh, right, s-sorry,” Jisung stuttered.

“It’s okay,” Minho said. After a beat of awkward silence, he said, “Jisung?”

“Yeah?”

“What do people today think of soulmates?”

Jisung began to chew on the inside of his cheek as he thought hard, then eventually said, “It depends on who you ask. Some people don’t believe in it at all. I’m sure if you asked some of the guys, they would say that. We’re not taught that there’s another person out there made specifically for you to become a better human being or whatever. They think that if you like who you’re with, then that’s enough, and if the relationship goes well or if it doesn’t, then that’s just what happens. Other people think soulmates do exist, but they don’t actively seek for them. I don’t know anybody that does, really.”

“What do you believe?”

Jisung knew this question was coming, but the air still got caught in his throat.

“W-Well...Before yesterday, I don’t know if I believed in them or not. I can’t say I’ve ever been with anybody that made me feel that connection before. But, then again, I haven’t been with anyone before that I’ve actually liked.”

“What do you mean?” Minho asked, his curious tick of tilting his head making another appearance.

“I-I, um...I don’t know...I’ve only been with, u-uh, with girls in my life…,” Jisung stuttered.

“You don’t like girls?” Minho asked innocently.

Jisung felt like he would explode as he shook his head.

“Do...do you?” he asked quietly.

Minho looked off again, blinking slowly, then said, “I’m supposed to. Men are supposed to like women. My parents only set me up on those dates with girls. The girls always seemed interested in me, but I don’t know. I only wanted to be friends with them, if that much. I always assumed it was because we weren’t soulmates, and that’s why I wasn’t interested in them, but when I would come home, my parents were always disappointed and would say that the girls thought I was cute and wanted to try with me or something. So they were interested in me even without being soulmates or anything. I thought something was wrong with me.” Jisung began to shake his head and wanted to start telling him there wasn’t anything wrong with him, but Minho kept going. “There was a boy, though. Choi Sunghyun. We danced together and I always felt weird around him. Like even if I was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed, if he asked to hang out, I would jump at the chance. My heart would beat so fast when I would see him in the village square, and it would beat even harder when he saw me too and smile and wave at me. But I’m not supposed to like boys, I wasn’t supposed to like Sunghyun, so I pushed it aside. I didn’t have to deal with seeing him anymore after I went up that mountain, but I thought about him a lot. Especially when too much time had passed and I knew he was...probably gone by then, anyways.”

At this, he fell silent. Jisung wanted to talk again, but he also knew that Minho needed the silence for a second.

“Minho?” Jisung said quietly. Minho hummed in response, but didn’t look up. “You don’t have to like anybody. You can like and fall in love with anybody, no matter what gender they are. Here, in South Korea at least, you can be with another man if you want to be. You don’t have to be or do anything you don’t want to.”

At this point, Minho looked up at him, his eyes shining. Jisung couldn’t tell if there were tears in them, but they were full of a light that resembled something like hope.

“R-Really?”

“Yeah,” Jisung said softly, a small smile upturning his lips. “The others know that I...you know, that I like guys and they don’t mind. They even try to set me up with people, but they have the worst taste, I swear. I mean, why would I trust Felix as a wingman when he’s into Changbin?” He stuck out his tongue and grimaced, which made Minho giggle.

“Wait, the others like guys, too?” Minho asked shyly.

Jisung nodded, saying, “Yeah, a couple do. If more do, they haven’t come out to us yet. But it’s not an uncommon thing. We get shit from some dumbasses sometimes, but at this point, we just laugh at them.”

Minho nodded, eyes never leaving Jisung’s.

“When did you know?” he asked.

“Well…,” Jisung started, “I guess I kind of always knew. But, like you, I thought that guys were only supposed to like girls, so I made myself only like girls. I had a girlfriend in middle school, but I don’t think you could count her as a real one or anything. I dated her because her friends told me she liked me right in front of her, and she was blushing and nervous and I didn’t want to make her sad or anything, so I agreed to be her boyfriend. She was happy, but she got bored after a while. I didn’t do good boyfriend things, like take her on dates or give her flowers or anything, so she broke up with me and told me I sucked.”

Minho laughed loud at this. Jisung took the pillow from his lap and threw it at Minho, but this only made him laugh harder.

“Shut up!” Jisung said. “It’s not that funny!” He couldn’t help the grin that broke his features, though, because Minho’s eyes disappeared into little crescents and his smile was blinding and Jisung could feel that warm feeling in his chest again.

Minho calmed down after a while and looked over at Jisung, the smile never leaving his face.

“You done?” Jisung asked. Minho nodded, wiping underneath his eyes. “Okay ‘cause I wanted to show you the drama that Hyunjin and Felix were talking about.”

Jisung stood and turned on the TV, grabbing the remote and settling back down on the couch, this time in the middle and closer to Minho. He looks over as the light filled the small room, illuminating Minho’s surprised face. His eyes were wide and his mouth was formed in an ‘O’. Jisung just chuckled to himself and switched over to Netflix.

“How are you doing that!?” Minho asked incredulously.

Jisung just laughed and shrugged, saying, “I don’t know, I’m not an engineer, I really just know how to get to Netflix.”

Jisung went to the search option and punched in ‘Boys Over Flowers’. As soon as the title popped up, he laughed again at the abysmal hairstyles of the early 2000’s. He hit play and sat back.

Soon, the screen filled with music and Minho gasped.

“It makes sound, too!?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s a show. There are actors that play out a story, so we can watch it and be entertained from our living room.”

Jisung knew that was a terrible explanation, but Minho seemed to accept it and turned back to the TV, eyes and mouth still wide.

He began voicing his thoughts out loud, and Jisung felt like he was entertaining a toddler.

“Who’s that?”

“That’s Gu Junpyo. That’s the actor with the same name as you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s…”

“Hot?”

“Yeah. He’s hot. Makes sense with a name like that. Oh, why are they being mean to her?”

Jisung rolled his eyes, then settled back across from Minho, laying his head down on his pillow. Instead of watching the terrible show he’s already seen, he looked over at the dazed and impressed Minho, who continuously gasped and made comments to nobody.

The warm feeling never left his chest as his eyes slowly drifted closed, the last thing he saw being pure Minho.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaaa this chapter was so fun to write. I did some research on traditional Korean Dance and lgbt+ rights so I'm a little more proud of this one.
> 
> happy pride month, bitches. never forget that who you are and who you like and what you want to be is always valid and you are always doing amazing, no matter how far you are into realizing your identity. as a queer individual, I understand the struggle completely, and again, if you ever need someone to talk to about anything you're going through, dm me @ultimate.biases on insta and I will be there for you and I will never disregard you or make you think you're something you're not. you are alive and valid and beautiful!!!
> 
> also, choi sunghyun was a backup dancer for bts with minho! they're in a bts performance video together (and minho's name was first in the dancers credit js js I'm proud). and if you haven't watched boys over flowers,,,you don't have to it's not that good but I felt it was necessary to expose Minho to the present a little bit.
> 
> don't forget to leave comments on how you think of this chapter! I seriously read all of them and they make me so so happy, you have nO idea.


	7. 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear my schedule is just not working with my writing updates, I'm so sorry ugh. working and traveling is a bitch.
> 
> anyways!! here's an update finally. I am really excited to hear your thoughts because this one...teehee.
> 
> here's a warning, though, there is a panic attack in this chapter, and I don't want anyone to be triggered or uncomfortable reading it, so here's your warning about it now. I love u
> 
> don't forget to leave comments on this one, I swear y'all are the sweetest bugs ever!!!

Jisung was startled awake when his body was forcefully rolled over, hands fumbling underneath him. He slowly blinked his eyes open to see Felix attempting to be sneaky and utterly failing.

“Felix...what the fuck are you doing?” Jisung rasped, his palms coming up to rub at his eyes.

“Oh, shit, did I wake you up?” Felix whispered.

“No, I woke up on my own, without you trying to manhandle me,” Jisung said, voice dripping with tired sarcasm.

“I’m sorry, but you’re lying on the remote and I wanna watch the next episode,” Felix said. He let out a victorious, “Aha!” when he found it underneath Jisung’s shoulder blade.

“When did you even get here?” Jisung asked, sitting up.

“About an hour ago,” Felix said. “I came in and saw Boys Over Flowers on the TV, so I sat down and watched the rest of it, but I needed the remote to get to the next episode and your fat ass was on top of it, so really it’s your-”

“And where were you before coming home?” Jisung asked, fully aware of how parental he sounded, but also fully aware of Felix wearing Changbin’s hoodie.

Felix seemed to blanche and blush at the same time as he muttered, “Just hung out with the guys. Wanted to take advantage of a free day, so-”

“Where did you guys hang out? Did you go shopping? I haven’t seen you wear that hoodie before, it’s similar to-”

“What are you, my mother!?”

“If I were your mother, I’d be asking if you used protection and-”

“Okay, alright, that’s enough out of you.”

Felix tackled Jisung and pushed him to the floor, giving him several kicks to the gut for good measure.

“Would you shut up? You’ll wake up Min…” Jisung started, but as he looked at the end of the couch, he saw Minho’s form was no longer there. “Where’s Minho?”

Felix just shrugged, his mischievous smile leaving his face, and said, “I don’t know, he wasn’t out here when I came in.”

“Shit.”

Jisung leapt to his feet and began scrambling towards his bedroom, throwing the door open.

Nothing.

“Shit, shit, shit.”

Jisung’s heart began beating fast, but not in the way it has been the past couple days, but with fear and anxiety pumping through his veins. His brain felt fuzzy, with a spotlight on one thing:

“Where the fuck is he?”

“Jisung?” He heard Felix say behind him.

“He’s not here. Why isn’t he here?” Jisung began to ramble, pacing around the room. He kicked the piles of clothes, as if Minho would, for whatever reason, be hiding underneath them.

“He isn’t?” Felix’s voice was getting smaller, but Jisung didn’t know if it was due to his nerves or if Felix was getting scared, too.

“No, he isn’t.” Jisung then turned to the younger and cried, “Why didn’t you wake me up when you saw that he wasn’t there!?”

“How was I supposed to know where he was?” Felix countered, voice becoming shaky. “I didn’t know he was on the couch, I assumed he was in your bedroom asleep or something, I don’t know-”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry, Lix,” Jisung said, trying to breathe. He ran his hands through his hair and pulled at the roots, hoping that that might anchor him. It didn’t.

“He couldn’t have gone far,” Felix said, trying to reassure Jisung. He didn’t dare step closer to the older, as Jisung was still pacing and he might get hit if he got too close to the stressed boy. “He doesn’t know his way around, he doesn’t know how to work transportation…”

“That’s exactly why I’m freaking out,” Jisung said, shaking out his hands. “What if he went too far and got lost, or got hit by something, or...you know how bad the crime is out here, I don’t know.”

At this point, Felix finally peeled himself from the frame of the door and placed his hands on Jisung’s shoulders. Felix tried to look into his eyes, but they were looking at anywhere but him.

“Don’t overthink, you know what will happen if you-”

“It’s already happening, Lix,” Jisung gasped. As his mind raced, his lungs tried to keep up, taking in shallow breath after shallow, shallow breath. He felt his hands begin to shake, and the tremors slid all the way down to his feet, causing his knees to buckle. He fell to the ground, Felix following quickly after him. He could barely feel Felix’s hands on his shoulders anymore, as all he could feel was cold numbness.

His brain was just conjuring up images of Minho being lost, Minho being taken, Minho being hurt, being...he didn’t want to focus on the last one, but it was present in his mind nonetheless.

“Sung, just breathe with me, okay?” He heard Felix’s muffled voice through the incessant screaming in his head. He felt Felix take one of his limp, shaking hands and press it against his chest, then slowly lifted as he took a deep breath. Felix kept Jisung’s hand pressed against his chest until he finally started breathing along with him, albeit shaky.

When Jisung seemed to have calmed down a bit, Felix released his hand, which fell back down to Jisung’s side.

“I’m sorry,” Jisung murmured. As feeling returned to his nerves, he could feel the chill of tears streaking his cheeks.

“Don’t be,” Felix said just as quietly. “It’s what I’m here for. We’re gonna find Minho, okay?”

Jisung nodded, which Felix reciprocated as he helped him stand back up. His legs still felt like jelly and his hands were clammy, but he was okay again.

“Do you need anything before we leave?” Felix asked.

“No, I don’t need them,” Jisung replied, his voice monotonous and steely. His eyes subconsciously flitted towards the bathroom, but he turned back to Felix with a shake of his head.

“Okay then, let’s go.”

~~

Despite Felix’s protests, the two split up once they left their apartment. Felix was going deeper into the city, while Jisung went farther out. They both had their phones on them and charged, and promised each other they would call once Minho was found.

For some reason, a reason that Jisung could only hope would be helpful, he was drawn to the more open space than the crowded clusters of buildings where Felix was going. He was using his heart (which made him gag) as a sort of compass, as it beat harder and faster when he was going one way, then quieted down when he went another way, then sped back up when he was going the right way. Hopefully.

After half an hour, he felt his phone vibrate. He felt his chest lighten in anticipation, then fall back down as it was just Felix checking up.

-

anything yet?  
lixiepoo 

nothing. idk but i have a good feeling. i’ll keep you updated  
sungshine

-

Jisung pocketed his phone and started running. As he ran, the buildings got smaller and grungier, people began popping up less and less, and the better he began to feel about where he was going.

When he passed by Chan’s diner, he knew where to go.

He kept running, his lungs burning and feet scraping against the pavement which soon turned to gravel and grass. His body was begging him to stop, but once he saw the park with it’s circle of trees, he ran faster.

He stumbled to a stop once he reached the edge of the trees, bending over to rest his hands on his knees and began gasping for breath. However, he kept his head held up and he saw him.

Minho was standing in the center of the park, back turned to Jisung, completely unaware of his presence. Jisung wondered how he couldn’t hear him panting from only a few feet away, but then he realized what Minho was so focused on.

Minho was standing at the base of the new statue, the one that undoubtedly took Minho’s place when he fell from it only a couple days ago. When Jisung took a closer look, he saw that the statue was a girl, maybe a year or two younger than Minho and him, made of what looked like sleek, pale pink stone. When Jisung’s breathing became more even, he realized Minho was talking to the statue.

“I know this is a weird situation, trust me, I know. It took forever for me to live again, I feel like the world left me in a cage and just kept running while I was forced to watch. I know you feel the same. But you’ll be okay once you live again, it’s only been a couple days, but I know I already feel better. So much better. I hope your soulmate is like Jisung.”

When Jisung heard his name leave Minho’s lips, his heart leapt, practically climbing up his throat. He couldn’t listen anymore without Minho knowing he was there.

“Minho!” he called out to him. The other looked over his shoulder and smiled. He didn’t look surprised at Jisung’s presence, almost as if he knew he would come or already knew he was there.

Minho stretched his arm out, hand open.

Another invitation.

Jisung slowly walked over to him and took his hand. Minho held it up to the statue, where she could seemingly see.

“This is Jisung. He saved me. I had given up until he found me. I promise you, yours will come, too.”

Minho dropped their hands, but didn’t relinquish his hold. Jisung didn’t want him to.

“Do you know her?” Jisung asked him after looking at the statue’s own outstretched hand. She was positioned simply, just standing with one arm to her side, the other held out.

Minho just shook his head, saying, “No, I don’t. But I know she’s where I was. I hope she can hear and see us, like I could, or else I’d look crazy right now.”

Despite Jisung’s now settling nerves, he let out a soft laugh. Minho smiled at him, his eyes glistening in the moonlight, then slowly began walking back to the edge of the park.

“Why did you leave?” Jisung asked after a while.

“I’m sorry,” Minho said sheepishly. “The show or whatever I was watching made me think about being stuck here again. I started thinking about whoever took my place, and I knew that if I were still there, I would want someone in my current position to reassure me or something. I wanted you to come, but you were asleep and I couldn’t, so I just...left.”

“You could have woken me up,” Jisung said softly. “I wouldn’t have minded. Please, if you ever feel the need to go somewhere, please let me know. I don’t know what I would have done if something...I don’t know.”

After a beat or two of silence, Jisung saw Minho shiver. Jisung came to a halt, releasing his grip of Minho’s hand and took off his sweatshirt and handed it to him.

Minho looked down at the sweatshirt, then back to Jisung, and said, “Won’t you be cold?”

Jisung shook his head, saying, “I ran for a while, I’m honestly sweating. Take it, you need it.” Minho did so, pulling the article over his head, making his hair ruffled and messy. Jisung wanted to coo so badly.

“You ran?” Minho asked.

“Of course I did, I didn’t know where you were,” Jisung answered immediately. He pulled out his phone again and sent a text to Felix, completely missing the look of adoration on Minho’s features.

-

found him. at the park. i’ll see you at home  
sungshine

-

“Were you...were you scared?” Minho asked timidly.

“Yes, Minho!” Jisung exclaimed, pocketing his phone again. “You left in the middle of the night without telling me, you don’t know the area, you don’t have a phone, you don’t-”

If Jisung could, he would have rambled the rest of the night away about how Minho had scared the life out of him, how he almost died from how hard he had been running after having a panic attack minutes before.

But Minho’s lips were on Jisung’s and that shut him up real quick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TEEHEE GIMME YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS SORRY FOR THE CLIFFHANGER BUT I HAD TO
> 
> SMOOCHES


	8. 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and I oop-
> 
> this is VERY short but I'm working a lot this weekend and I really wanted to keep going, so I thought I'd drop a cheeky lil double update for y'all
> 
> I hope you're not too mad at the cliffhanger teehee
> 
> also,,,skz didn't get their second win, which is upsetting, but it's not the end of the world!! there will be more opportunities for us to get them the wins they deserve, and we'll always be there for them. they're still barely a year old, they have so much to do and so far to go and we love them all the same. STRAY KIDS FIGHTING
> 
> y'all know I love seeing your comments, so don't forget to do the same for this one!! I LOVE Y'ALL

Ah, Jisung thought. So this is what kissing a cute boy feels like.

His first emotion was shock. Complete and utter shock. Yes, Jisung wanted to kiss Minho, but he didn’t know when that would happen, if ever. Jisung was willing to wait, wait as long as Minho had to wait for him to bring him back to life. Yes, Minho seemed more confident than Jisung when it came to this sort of...thing. The one-liners that hit Jisung’s chest like a truck always left him reeling and left Minho with that small, smug grin on his face. But Jisung wasn’t expecting him to do this all of a sudden, without warning or seemingly without any reason. But Jisung didn’t mind at all. Oh, at all.

His second emotion was excitement. For the first time in his short twenty year lifespan, he was kissing a boy. And that boy kissed him first! Wow! And his lips were so soft and gentle and the taste of chocolate still lingered from the ice cream they had eaten while Jisung was still conscious and good lord, Jisung began to think chocolate was his new favorite flavor! He could write a thousand poems about Minho’s lips alone and then a thousand more songs about them and maybe a few novels, maybe an entire professional essay, maybe…

Before he could even start writing the first lines of anything, Minho’s lips were gone and he stumbled back a foot or two. He clapped a hand over his mouth as Jisung stared, his own jaw falling open a bit.

Before he could even begin to say something, Minho shouted, “I’m sorry!” through his hand, his voice coming out muffled, but still strained.

“Why-”

“I don’t know why I did that,” Minho said, removing his hand just an inch from his mouth. “I shouldn’t have, I really shouldn’t have, but nobody’s ever cared for my well-being that much, besides my parents, but they cared in a different way, in a way that was stupid and annoying, but you…”

“Stupid and annoying?” Jisung asked. Minho cracked a smile, so Jisung felt victorious.

“Never.”

“You’ve only known me for two days, though. I might annoy the shit out of you tomorrow.”

“I don’t care.”

“And I’m really dumb. Truly the stupidest person to walk this earth.”

“I don’t care.”

“I wanna kiss you again.”

“I don’t - wait, yes, I do care.”

With that, Minho launched himself back at Jisung, hands cupping his cheeks, lips landing on Jisung’s.

The third emotion Jisung felt was that damned L word. He’d never felt it in his life, at least not in a romantic way, but he knew this was it. He didn’t know if it was the soulmate connection screaming at him for finally kissing back, or his own emotions taking the wheel. But he did know his heart was bursting at the seams, spilling this emotion into every part of him, his veins, his nerves, his fucking spleen.

All he could feel was Minho, Minho, Minho.

And his phone vibrating his ass off.

Jisung broke away from Minho in order to catch their breaths, then said, “Felix is probably wondering where we are, gimme a second.” He pulls out his phone and mutters, “Oh, god.”

-

i’m already at the apartment, i’ll just come to you

i’m almost there, u good?

hello??? did u die???

prolly not a good joke rn my b

i’m passing the diner now, almost there

i hope ur still there n didn’t leave me behind

ok almost at the park

i think i see u

where’s minho?

oh

OH

i see ok ok

imma head back but i hope u know ur never hearing the end of this

givin me that much shit for changbin when ur out here smoochin ur own cute boy smh

uSe pRoTeCtiOn

uglie  
lixiepoo

i hate u

i swear if u say anything in front of minho i’ll kill u with my own two hands  
sungshine

luv u too uwu  
lixiepoo

-

Jisung put his phone back in his pocket with a sigh. He looked up to see Minho staring at the statue again.

“You okay?” he asked him. Minho just nodded and smiled.

“I just realized we’re still in her line of view,” he said, pointing at her with his chin.

“Oh, shit,” Jisung said quietly, then turned to the statue and called, “Sorry!”

Minho giggled at him and Jisung wanted to bottle it up and keep it somewhere safe, somewhere he could uncork it and hear it over and over again.

“Come on, let’s head home,” Jisung said, holding out his hand to Minho. Minho took it, the happy smile never leaving his face, and they began walking back to the apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this story could very well end right here, but lowkey I don't want it to...idkidk if someone drops a suggestion for where this could go mayhaps we'll keep goin...
> 
> n e wayz, I hope you guys enjoyed this, especially after the rude ass cliffhanger teehee.
> 
> I love you guys so incredibly much y'all are the sweetest

**Author's Note:**

> Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated and accepted! Thank you so much for reading this first chapter, I genuinely mean that uwu


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